Bord na Móna in €50m deal

Bord na Móna has signed a €50m deal to supply renewable electricity to Irish energy supplier Vayu who will sell the electricity on to its business customers.

As part of a power purchase agreement, electricity produced by a new Bord na Móna landfill plant in Co Kildare, will be supplied to Vayu for 15 years.

The plant, powered by gas that is produced from the decomposition of waste in the landfill site, produces 5.6 megawatts of renewable energy, which is estimated to be enough to supply power to 14,000 homes.

Head of resource recovery with Bord na Móna, John Daly said the company has been re-evaluating how it views waste.

“Bord na Móna has invested heavily in new and innovative ways of capitalising on all our resources to create further value and uses. This gas power plant is the result of a transformation in the way we look at spent materials, turning household waste into green energy that in turn helps create jobs and a sustainable electricity supply,” he said.

Managing director of Vayu, Colm Kennedy, said it is seeing increased demand for renewable power amongst Irish businesses.

“Vayu is seeing an increasing demand for renewable electricity as companies opt for more environmentally sustainable solutions, looking to minimise their carbon footprint across all aspects of their operations. Access to competitively priced green electricity is moving up the list of priorities and this is changing the way Irish businesses procure energy,” he said.

He believes that in the future renewable energy will play a bigger part in the energy mix in Ireland as security of supply becomes a larger concern.

“There is no question that renewable energy will be a big part of electricity production in Ireland over the decades to come. This is important not only from an environmental sustainability viewpoint but also in terms of the country’s security of supply and long-term economic competitiveness,” he said.